Judge dismisses anti-Mormon group lawsuit

Associated Press/March 30, 2007

Salt Lake City -- A lawsuit filed by an anti-Mormon group that accused a pro-Mormon foundation of trademark infringement and unfair competition has been dismissed.

A judge in Salt Lake City ruled a Web site reportedly set up for The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research _ or FAIR _ was a parody. The judge also said visitors of the site could immediately recognize that it did not belong to Utah Lighthouse Ministry, an organization critical of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The FAIR Web site used ten domain names, including utahlighthouse-dot-com and utahlighthouse-dot-org.

Lighthouse Ministry founders Jerald and Sandra Tanner --- critics of the L-D-S Church --- claimed because the domain names linked to an Internet page that had a "remarkable resemblance" to the Lighthouse site, viewers were confused.

However, the judge rejected the claim FAIR was cybersquatting, the practice of registering domain names to profit from the goodwill associated with someone else's trademark.